As UP welcomes students back from fall break to start the second half of the semester, the school's student athletes are gearing up to face the second half of their seasons. Men and women’s soccer, cross country and volleyball have all reached the season's midpoint. Start the second half of the semester off right by reading a recap of the Pilots’ overall rankings and league standings so far.
Men’s Soccer:
Pilot men’s soccer, ranked ninth in the nation, currently sits in second place in the West Coast Conference (WCC) with nine points and a conference record of 3-1-0. They are just one point behind league-leader Santa Clara University and hold an overall record of 10-3-0. In order to win the WCC, the Pilots need to continue winning conference games and hope that Santa Clara drops points during the second half of the season.
Men’s soccer also boasts an undefeated home record of 10-0 and scored a total of 40 goals this season while only conceding 11. Leading the scoring is Jacob Babalai with 12 goals and leading assists is Kevin Bonilla with nine.
The Pilots will need to improve their win percentage during the second half of the season in order to qualify for placement in the NCAA National Tournament.
Men's soccer players celebrate after a goal on Merlo.
Women’s Soccer:
Pilot women’s soccer enters the second half of the season in fifth place in the WCC with nine points. They are only three points from first place where there's currently a three-way tie between Gonzaga University, Santa Clara University and Pepperdine University. The Pilots have an overall record of 9-3-2 and a conference record of 3-2-0.
Women’s soccer has ten shutouts and has only conceded seven goals so far. At this point in the season, they have scored 22 goals and their top scorer is Nedya Sawan with six goals. Sawan also leads the Pilots in playmaking with four assists.
The Pilots will look to finish the season with three out of three wins in order to move up in the WCC standings and qualify for placement in the NCAA National Tournament.
The women's soccer team plays Washington State University.
Volleyball:
Pilots volleyball is currently seventh in the WCC with a conference record of 2-7-0 and an overall record of 7-14. Pepperdine University leads the WCC with an undefeated record of 9-0-0.
Pilot Maui Robins leads the team offensively with a total of 271 kills and 34 aces so far this season. Also leading the attack is Maddie Corpe, who is the assist leader with 405 assists. Defensively, Kili Robins leads the Pilots with 195 digs and Taina Kaauwai leads the team with 62 blocks.
Volleyball player Maddie Corpe sets a ball up at the Chiles Center.
Men and Women’s Cross Country:
The men and women’s cross country teams have had a successful season so far and earned several first place race finishes in the regular season. Both teams will travel to California to compete at the 2023 WCC Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Oct. 28.
Pilot women’s cross country has won a total of 20 WCC championships and the men’s team has won 34. The Pilots will want to add another two championships this year to cap off the season as champions of the WCC.
Aidan Hyde is a sports reporter for The Beacon. He can be reached at hydea25@up.edu.
